Biden announces $2.5B loan for electric vehicle battery hubs in three states

The Biden administration on Monday announced a loan of $2.5 billion to a joint General Motors (GM) and LG venture that will manufacture electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

The Energy Department will provide the loan through its Loan Programs Office to the joint venture, Ultium Cells, which plans to establish battery manufacturing facilities in Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

The announcement comes as GM pursues a goal of all-electric vehicle production by 2035. It’s also the first closed loan specifically for battery-cell manufacturing, according to the Energy Department.

“Investing in American production and Ohio workers is part of the work we are doing to put in place a new pro-American, pro-worker industrial policy,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is up for reelection in 2024, said in a statement Monday.

“This loan will support Ohio in taking another step to lead the country and the world in producing sustainable technology and electric vehicles that Americans will need and drive over the next century,” he added.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement that the loan “will jumpstart the domestic battery cell production needed to reduce our reliance on other countries to meet increased demand and support President Biden’s goals of widespread EV adoption and cutting carbon pollution produced by gas-powered vehicles.”

Workers at the Ohio plant voted overwhelmingly last week to unionize, forming the first union at a U.S. electric vehicle battery plant. The vote suggests union labor could play a major role in the EV build-out.

The Energy Department estimates the three facilities will sustain some 11,000 jobs. As of November, the department has received 98 applications for $104 billion worth of loans, according to the administration.